Redhawk Caldera i warn you not to doubt the silence before the storm

Raven was nowhere near the Caldera when the first faint howl reached her ears. She was all the way up near Wild Berry Meadow, foraging for certain plants to bolster up her stores before the winter snows came. The faint, distant echo, clearly Towhee's voice, barely reached her. It was enough to make her perk up and turn her head toward the Caldera in curiosity, but after a moment of wondering, she shrugged it off and went back to her business. It wasn't her responsibility to attend to everything that went on at the old volcano's borders.

But a moment later, a second howl reverberated across the miles and it was much more direct: her own name was carried in the notes with an unmistakeable message of urgency. Immediately, she dropped what she was doing and bolted in the direction of home, anxiety rising like a tide of cold water inside of her.

---

Due to the distance, it took her a while to get there. She intercepted a frantic and confused Towhee on the way there, and she let her younger sister lead the way. Moments later, she arrived to a scene that confused her and raised questions -- what was going on? Who were all these strangers? A who were they gathered arou---

Wifi.

She couldn't believe her eyes at first. It had been so long since she'd seen her littermate and childhood best friend, but sure as shit, it was her lying there in a skeletal, filthy, bedraggled heap. She looked dead, and for the briefest of instants, her heart dropped through her stomach and she teetered on the edge of a full-fledged panic attack. Her trained eye quickly spotted the shallow, rapid rise and fall of her sister's sides, though, and an overwhelming sense of relief washed through her. A quick explanation from Finley filled her in on what had happened, and without further ado, Raven threw in and began to help the other moves Wildfire. While she did, her eyes roved over her sister's battered body, cataloguing scrapes and cuts with the efficiency of experience. She was in such bad shape, definitely starved and dehydrated, with possibly worse wounds beneath the surface. She would be able to find out more once they got her settled and Wildfire regained consciousness.

Of all the times she had imagined reuniting with her sister, she had never imagined it would be like this. Worry and fear plagued her heart, topped only by the never-ending stream of questions that ran through her mind.